GINGER BEER

Ginger beer is a delicious refreshing drink, and good for settling the tummy. take care though the bottles must be stored in a cool place and not shaken. Chill thoroughly before opening but be prepared for the odd explosion thats half the fun but it can be messy. To make real ginger beer you need to make the 'plant' its not a real plant, but its a yeast free orginal way of making your ginger beer fizz.

Mix the ginger, 1 tspns of sugar and tepid water together in a large glass jar. Cover with a muslin cloth. Let stand for 24 hours. After this feed every day for 11 days with 1 tspn of ginger and 1 tspn of sugar.

Making the 'Beer'

Put 1 litre of the water and the sugar in a saucpan. Heat gently while stirring until the sugar dissolves. Take off the heat and add the rest of the water and the lemon juice.

Without disturbing the sediment, strain the ginger 'plant' liquid through 2 layers of scalded muslin. Add this liquid to the sugared water. Pour the mixture into clean bottles, cap tightly and leave to stand for 2 days, or until it starts to fizz. After this, it must be kept in a cool place or the fridge to prevent the tops blowing. Sterilize Bottles. After making the beer divide the sediment in the jar into two. You now have 2 'plants' to feed and can double the beer recipe. Keep the 'plant' going and you will have a constant supply of fresh ginger beer

Berry Cordial

If frozen defrost the berries and then crush with the sugar with a masher in a bowl. Add the lemon slices. Pour over 500ml boiling water, and stir until the sugar has dissolved, boil for 1 hour. Allow to cool, cover with a tea towel and store in the fridge for 4 days, add the tartaric acid at this point if using.

Taste and see if it is strong enough; if it's not, give it another day in the fridge. Strain through a muslin-lined sieve and decant into sterilised bottles. The cordial will keep in the fridge in unopened bottles for up to 6 months. Serve with sparkling water

Apple Wine

MethodWash, peel, core and chop apples, immerse in cold water. Keep skins. Chop raisins and put in bucket. Add chopped apples with half the skins and pour over the sugar syrup. Top up with water (cooled boiled water) to 5 litres, add in the crushed campden tablets. Cover the bucket and leave for 24 hours. Add the pectinase and leave for another 24 hours. Add the yeast and nutrient and fermet for 8-10 days before transferring the strained must to the ferment. Stop fermentation at specific gravity 1010. Rack and mature according to procedure

Dandelion and Ginger Wine

MethodBoil the dandelion heads and leave to infuse for one hour. Strain the liquid into a fermentation bucket together with ginger and sugar. Stir vigorously to dissolve the sugar. When cool add the tartaric acid, strong tea, yeast nutrient and wine yeast and cover and leave for three days, stirring daily. Strain into a demijohn and fit an airlock to seal the jar.

Store in a warm place and allow the fermentation to work. When fermentation has ceased, rack the wine into a clean jar and place in a cooler environment and leave. When the wine is clear and stable siphon into bottles

Roughly press blackberries and add to clean, empty winemaking fermentation bucket. Next, add the cooled, boiled water, together with sugar, wine nutrient, campden tablet, acid blend and pectic enzyme. Stir well until all of the sugar has completely dissolved and allow to stand for up to 24 hours.

Add activated wine yeast and then stir twice a day for five days. Thoroughly strain the blackberry wine mixture and add to demijohn, with suitable airlock. Rack after approximately one month, and then again at three monthly intervals until clear and approximately 12 months old. Bottle blackberry wine and then leave to stand for a minimum of 12 months

Iron fortified tonic

(this is a very complete syrup when it comes to vitamins and minerals, but if you really just need the iron and want to save the $$, you can just make it with yellow dock root and the ingredients below), water, molasses, honey, a jar

Measure out 2oz by weight of your herb mixture (in a pinch, two big handfuls) per quart of water that you’re using.

Bring your water to a boil, add your herbs, and turn down to a medium-low simmer.

Simmer uncovered until the liquid is reduced by half (different stoves/pans vary, but 2 quarts boiled down to 1 quart for me in about 50 minutes–make sure not to burn it!)

Fill your jar halfway full with 3 parts molasses to 1 part honey (ish—experiment with taste here, but there should always be more molasses than honey because it is a very good source of iron)

Strain the decocted (boiled and reduced) mixture, and fill the other half of the jar. (So it’s one part sweet, one part liquid)

If you aren’t pregnant and are just taking this for the iron, you can add a dash of brandy to preserve it.

Stir or shake to mix the molasses, honey, and decoction, and then pop it in the fridge.

You can take up to 6 tablespoons a day, and feel free to get adventurous with it. while you can’t add fruit juice to it (it will spoil), you can add fruit syrups as part of the sweet half. for instance, i used the last of my elderberry syrup (another lesson forthcoming) in addition to my honey and molasses. get creative eating it too. you can put it on biscuits or pancakes or ice cream, or you can take it straight out of the spoon! in the fridge, this should keep for a few weeks.Source: http://urbanherbwifery.wordpress.com/2010/10/12/iron-tonic-syrup/